Lambton County Council has provided $675,000 in financial support to the County of Lambton Community Development Corporation (CLCDC) Board to keep the Western Sarnia-Lambton Research Park afloat as it recovers from the pandemic.
The commitment was half of the $1.35 million request made at council's most recent meeting in Wyoming.
Executive Director Katherine Albion said there are some exciting opportunities being explored right now, but they need time to secure the new tenants.
"We are receiving many inquiries related to sustainable chemistry, which is a new focus sector for Lambton County," said Albion.
She said the park, and researchers at Western Engineering, recently submitted a joint expression of interest research proposal for the development of new technologies to support the local green economy.
"This would be a multi-year research project that would take place at the research park, where we would have faculty, masters, and PHD students scaling up and demonstrating new technologies that would be implemented on the commercial scale in Lambton County for one of our big five manufacturing sites," Albion said.
Most recently, Albion said the park was contacted by the Canadian Investment and Trade Office in Taipei, requesting their assistance in the area of biodegradable polymers.
"They have a Taiwanese company that is interested in expanding production in Ontario, as well as investing in Ontario," she added.
The funding was described as a "runway" to get the park's occupancy back up to pre-pandemic levels in the next 18 to 36 months.
Dawn Euphemia Township Mayor Al Broad was only comfortable providing 50 per cent of the request after the presentation.
"I think they need to come back, let's say in September or October," said Broad. "To me, I need a much better business plan with some more financials in there... because all I've got is an 11 page slide asking for $1.35 million dollars. That's a lot of ask in an 11 page slide."
Warwick Township Mayor Todd Case asked staff to investigate the possibility of housing county run organizations, or Tourism Sarnia-Lambton, in the facility.
"Don't get me wrong, I know it's a research park and that's what we all want to see in there, but at the same time I'm interested to see from an economic standpoint where we sit in other facilities and the amount of term left on those leases," said Case.
Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley was unsuccessful in his plea for his colleagues to "take a leap of faith" and provide the full funding request, but said he respected the decision to provide half.
Mayor Bradley, and Sarnia City/County Councillors Dave Boushy and Bill Dennis voted against the amendment to only provide 50 per cent of the funding.
Mayor Broad later reiterated that his motion had "nothing to do with whether, or not, we need the research park."
"We had a $1.35 million ask, less than two months after our budget [was set]. My job, and everybody's around this table, is to review taxpayers' money that we're putting into this project. I'm not saying that we don't need it, just a little more information to us will definitely help make me, personally, feel confident in what I'm doing," Broad said.
In November 2023, Albion told Sarnia News Today the research park was "going through a transitional phase" after many tenants adopted a hybrid work-from-home model, or graduated to establish their own sites, freeing up space at the Modeland Road site.